We enjoyed 4 days in Hamburg, Germany with our kids in order to meet our long-lost family and to explore.

Arrival and First Impressions

After taking two flights from Poland, we arrived and had dinner at Jolie, indulging in traditional Wiener Schnitzel, ribs, and other delicious German cuisine. We settled into our lively neighborhood of St. Pauli, known for its wild Reeperbahn area. It’s the kind of place that’s considered the hippy spot of Germany.

Exploring St. Pauli

The restaurants around us were fantastic, and the next morning, we enjoyed an incredible breakfast before heading out to meet long-lost relatives. Nana found them on Ancestry.com, and we’ve been looking forward to this meeting for 18 years since discovering them online.

A few restaurants pictured above are from all around Hamburg (and were amazing!) We loved Jolie, Yoshi, Kraweel, Gasthaus zum Bäcker, and Restaurant Nil.

Meeting Family

It turns out some of our ancestors had twins long ago—one moved to America and the other stayed in Germany. Astrid is descended from the one who stayed. We met her family for dinner and got to know our European relatives.

A Day in Verden

Today, we drove to Verden with Astrid to meet more family. They organized a beautiful tea party for us, a lovely way to connect with relatives our side hadn’t met in hundreds of years. We looked at old family photos, including pictures of Nana’s mom, Delta Jaeger, as a baby. The kids enjoyed chocolate and had fun on some great swings. We had lunch with Ilsa, Anna, and Silka (none of them are named after Disney princesses, though).

The kids jumped on the trampoline, and we all had more cake. After meeting the family and taking a train back, we reunited to Dad, who had worked all day, for an amazing dinner.

City Adventures and Mishaps

The next day, we went suitcase shopping because one got destroyed on the plane.  Danke, Lufthansa!

We also shipped a suitcase back to Maui. Then, we explored the city center of Hamburg. We visited the Saint Nikolai Memorial, a church bombed during World War II air raids, and saw the Hamburger Rathaus, the town hall.

We dined at Yoshi, a fancy Japanese restaurant on the roof of a department store. We also happened upon the Hamburg Ironman competition.

Journey to Amsterdam

Another train ride! We worked on homework sheets while Dad edited our travel videos.

Now we’re off to Amsterdam!